The CBP single transaction bond (STB) accounting process suffered from deficiencies from 2000 to 2007 that resulted in failure to collect “substantial” antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese garlic, crawfish tail meat, canned mushrooms and honey imports, said Acting CBP Commissioner Thomas Winkowski in a Jan. 2 letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The letter is a response to Wyden concerns expressed in letters to CBP over recent months over failure to collect the relevant duties. Some sureties are continuing to contest CBP demands for payment or have declined payment after reaching insolvency, said Winkowski.

CBP is telling the trade community it will put manifest holds on any cargo at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach that does not have an Importer Security Filing (ISF) 48 hours before arrival, according to alerts sent out by A.N. Deringer (here) and OHL (here), among others. The new "enforcement posture" was effective Jan. 20, CBP told the Los Angeles Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association (here). The ISF program requires advance cargo information submission to CBP within 24 hours before the cargo is loaded onto an ocean vessel going to the U.S. CBP begin increasing ISF enforcement efforts in July (see 13062613) and discussed the increased use of manifest holds by CBP's Los Angeles/Long Beach field office in October (see 13100810).

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International Trade Today will periodically feature a Q&A with a customs industry professional. Our interviewee for this edition is Cindy Allen, Vice President of Brokerage U.S. for DHL Global Forwarding. Before joining DHL, Allen handled the difficult task of overseeing work on the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) as CBP's Executive Director of the ACE business office. Allen has also served as the Educational Institute Director with National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America and president of the Detroit Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association. She's been a licensed customs broker since 1990.

CBP continues to fail to collect vast sums of potential revenue in import duties on certain Chinese agriculture and seafood products that entered the U.S. since 2002, along with associated bonds posted on the imports, said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., at the Jan. 15 Finance Committee hearing on the nomination of Gil Kerlikowske for CBP Commissioner (see 14011521).

Entries submitted to CBP missing invoices require a new entry and cannot be updated in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) with a Post Summary Correction (PSC), CBP said in a CSMS message. The ACE Business Rules and Process Document "is currently being revised to include this additional guidance," CBP said.

CBP must ensure all efforts are exhausted to complete the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) in a timely manner and modernize the U.S. export process in order to fuel growth in the U.S. trade community, Gil Kerlikowske told the Senate Finance Committee at a Jan. 15 hearing to consider his nomination for CBP commissioner. President Barack Obama nominated Kerlikowske for the post in August (see 13080219). “CBP needs to continue to prioritize completion of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), that is the electronic automated system for the efficient transmission of data to all U.S. government agencies and that will ensure efficient and timely release of cargo,” said Kerlikowske. “I will devote a significant amount of time to ensure that very expensive computer system is up and running and performs the way it should for commerce.”

The customs brokers have been and will continue to be a necessary part of CBP's trade mission, but coming regulatory changes may require some "reinvention" within the industry, said Al Gina, a former head of CBP's Office of International Trade. Similarly, CBP made some major adjustments during Gina's time there due to new budgetary constraints, an issue that continues to loom over CBP as it works to develop both long and short-term initiatives, he said. Gina, who recently retired from the agency and is now a partner at CT Strategies (see 13111217), discussed a number of agency initiatives and his new work during a wide-ranging interview on Jan. 9.

CBP will add several Missouri ports to the Simplified Entry pilot, said Scarbrough International, a pilot participant, in a press release. CBP recently told the company it will add the Port of St. Louis, Kansas City Airport and Springfield Airport to the program, Scarbrough said. The pilot, now officially called the Automated Commercial Environment Cargo Release, was recently expanded (see 13110115). “As one of only a few brokers nationally with the permissions and capabilities to transmit a Simplified Entry, we are very pleased to be the voice for the Midwest and represent the many international businesses in our region that utilize Missouri airports to fulfill their supply chain and logistics needs,” said Adam Hill, vice president of Operations for Scarbrough

CBP New York/Newark released statistics in a pipeline notice showing the "cycle time measurement" of Centralized Examination Stations from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. The cycle times refer to the time from ocean container arrival, as transmitted via the Automated Commercial Environment, through final examination completion as recorded in the Cargo Enforcement Reporting and Tracking System.